In the solar industry, technology risk—the concern that a PV module will underperform or degrade prematurely—is a major hurdle for project bankability and investor confidence. Because modern PV modules are expected to operate reliably for 25 to 30 years, manufacturers and researchers cannot wait decades to validate new materials or designs.

Accelerated Stress Testing bridges this gap. By intensifying environmental stresses—such as extreme temperature, humidity, voltage bias, and UV exposure—in a controlled laboratory setting, we can compress decades of field weathering into a matter of months. This allows us to rapidly identify design flaws, predict long-term wear-out mechanisms, and ensure the true reliability of solar technologies before they are deployed at scale.

We have vast experience performing accelerated stress testing on a wide range of technologies, including full-size PV modules, individual components (backsheets, encapsulants, cables, etc.), Module-Level Power Electronics (MLPE) devices, batteries, and utility energy meters. Building on the frameworks being developed and currently established in the industry, our lab conducts several distinct tiers of accelerated testing:

• Standard Qualification Testing: Baseline testing (such as standard IEC 61215) designed primarily to catch "infant mortality"—early-life failures caused by immediate design flaws.
• Accelerated Lifetime Testing (ALT) & Extended Testing: Unlike basic qualification, ALT pushes modules far beyond standard limits into their ultimate wear-out phase. By extending these stress durations, we can better predict actual field lifetimes.
• Comparative Testing: Subjecting different module architectures or Bills of Materials (BOMs) to identical, severe stress protocols to directly benchmark their relative durability.
• Failure-Mode Specific Testing: Isolating specific environmental variables to recreate and study known field failures, such as damp-heat for encapsulant degradation or high voltage for current leakage.

ASU-PRL is equipped to simulate extreme environmental conditions to test the long-term durability and reliability for the PV market. Facilities include:

• Environmental Chambers: Two large walk-in chambers capable of maintaining temperatures from -60°C to 120°C and controlling relative humidity (RH) from 0% to 100%.
• UV Chambers: One large walk-in chamber capable of up to 5X standard UV dosage, and a secondary, thinner UV chamber that accommodates up to four modules, also reaching up to 5X UV dosage.
• Weathering & Thermal: An Atlas weatherometer for advanced weathering simulations, alongside eight small Jeio Tech (OF-02G) ovens for targeted thermal stress testing.
• Extended Accelerated Stress Testing (EAST): The lab utilizes these chambers for rigorous testing protocols beyond standard certification, including EAST protocols (per IEC 63209) that subject modules to extreme conditions like 600 kWh/m² of UV exposure, 2,000 hours of Damp Heat (DH), and 600 Thermal Cycles (TC).
• Potential Induced Degradation (PID) Simulation: The lab can simultaneously simulate PID on up to 20 modules at multiple polarities (both positive and negative bias) in strict accordance with the IEC TS 62804-1 standard. Specific testing capabilities include:
  • Environmental Chamber Method (IEC TS 62804-1, Method A): Utilizing high temperature and humidity (e.g., 60°C or 85°C at 85% RH) to create a non-condensing conductive pathway to ground.

  • Conductive Electrode Method (IEC TS 62804-1, Method B): Contacting the module surface with a grounded conductive layer. This is primarily executed via the Aluminum-Foil Method, though the lab can also facilitate Water/Wet Methods (where a layer of water acts as the highly conductive electrode, a common research alternative to foil).